up next on lectures in history >> on lectures in history, arizona state university professor jonathan barth teaches a class about the rise of andrew jackson and his presidency. >> he focuses on jackson's clashes with whig party members like henry clay and daniel webster. in the bank wars of the 18 thirties. this is about 55 minutes. good morning, everybody. and welcome to american history, my name is jonathan barth, and i am a history professor at arizona state university in conjunction with two very

stellar world class programs. there they are, on the screen. the school of historical, philosophical and religious studies. quite a mouthful. we call it shippers. also, the center for political thought and leadership. or ptl, another stellar program. if this lecture intrigues you, you should check out our center. we are doing big things. finally, if you are interested in learning more about yours truly, www.professorbarth.com. you can read about me on that website. a generation of politicians has passed. alexander hamilton died in a

dual in 1804. james madison pictured there on the right, retired from politics and dies in 1836. john adams andthomas jefferson die on the same day, july 4, 1826. 50 years to the day of the signing of the declaration of independence. pretty incredible. you can't make something like that up. america is changing. a market revolution is sweeping the young republic. mass commercialization. profit-making. new opportunities for investment. inventions. entrepreneurship. a burst in the population. look at that explosion from one million in 1750 to 13 million by 1830. this is a young population. average age about 17 years old.

aggressive, energetic, highly individualistic. oftentimes reckless. factories have sprouted up all across the north, especially new england, producing textiles and other manufactured goods. outside of the cities, and agricultural goods. wheat exports. in the south, a new plant -- cotton. it creates that soft, and arable textile -- durable textile. spreading all throughout the south, intrenching that slave system deeper and deeper. in the south, cotton takes off. if you're going to have textiles, you're going to have cotton, if you're gonna have wheat, you need transportation.

you have roads being built, turnpikes connecting rural markets to waterways and to add line tick port cities. steamboats by the 18 twenties and thirties, tracking up and down the mississippi river. canals, canal media, built all across the country, the most famous being that erie canal, completed in 1825, connecting the hudson river to lake erie. what an accomplishment that is. if you have canals, plantations and factories, you need credit. here, to we have lots and lots of credit. bakes sprouting up all across the u.s. from three begs in 1790 to several hundred banks by the 18 twenties. banks are chartered by the states. we they stayed within that states boundaries, each one sharon currency. but sitting on top of those state banks is the mother bank.

the chief bank, the central bank, the bank of the united states. this is the second bank of the united states from earlier this semester. there was a first bank of the united states in 1791. alexander hamilton pushes through congress a bank of the united states. this bank, a private bank, with stockholders and dividends. this bank, hamilton says, will benefit not only financial, interests but will benefit the country, the public. how will it benefit the public? because the u.s. treasury will deposit money in the bank we. money coming in from taxes, and the treasury can also borrow money from the bank. this bank is a 20 year charter, but it has lots of opponents.

you remember that chief opponent, thomas jefferson. he hates the bake. the bank, jefferson believes is an institution that imperils american liberty by elevating to power a wealthy financial elite. a nonproductive elite. jefferson opposes it. jefferson comes to power in 1800. the charter expires in 1811. one year later, a war it erupts with britain. the national government finds itself in tremendous fiscal straits. after the war was finished, five years later, the democratic republicans, the party of jefferson, charter a second bank of the united states. and the second bank, much like the first, also will have a 20 year charter. this charter will run out in

1836. and presumably, congress and the president in good faith will renew the charter. there you have it. which there are bumps along the road, after the bank is chartered he will recall from the last lecture, the panic of 1819. will it explode this massive bubble in western land speculation -- a bubble caused largely caused by the bank at all this new bank currency -- latte creates a bubble and then the burst. but the country recovers from the panic fairly quickly. and so the second bank of the united states survives that panic and goes into the 1820's with very little opposition. most americans have come to accept the bank, the market revolution is fully underway. it is not just the economy that is changing. it is the political arena that is changing. two new political part the wigs

and the democrats. talking. it's who were these wigs and where these democrats? representing new england for the whigs, daniel webster, a lawyer for massachusetts. one of the most brilliant orators in u.s. congressional history. quite an impressive figure. we also have from massachusetts john quincy adams, son of the second president of the united states. he too is -- a whig. most famously we have henry clay from the state of kentucky. clay ends up running for president five times. just can't get it. can't seem to do it. but nonetheless, henry clay is one of the most important political figures in american history.

what does clay do? clay has a program, a system, an american system. that american system is threefold. henry clay says first, we need to have protective tariffs on american manufacturing. sure enough, henry clay, when he becomes secretary of state under john quincy adams, adams signs into law a new tariff, the tariff of 1828, raising the tariff from 25% to 45%. that is one heck of a tariff. 45%. why do they do that? to protect american manufacturers and textile goods. clay also says we need federally funded internal

improvements. using federal dollars to finance the building of roads, canals, bridges, and so forth. and then finally, clay says, we need to recharter the bank of the united states. unlike hamilton, however, clay frames his defense of the bank of the united states in common man rhetoric. hamilton says the bank is good for financial interests. clay says the bank is good for farmers, the bank is good for mechanics, for manufacturers. the bank is good for the country as a whole. we need to be charter this bank. there is the wig party platform -- whig party platform. the whigs support utilizing the powers of the federal government to stimulate economic activity, and they

adopt a broad interpretation of the constitution. the federal government they say does have the right to engage in this activity. most of the whigs are going to come from new england. because of the tariff? right but also from the west. this is what distinguished clay from hamilton. hamilton makes no appeals to the west. clay is from the west. he hopes the internal improvements will get western votes. but they have opposition. there is that democratic party. the democrats oppose the american system. the democrats adopt a strict interpretation of the constitution, a very limited view of the federal governments powers. wealthy plantation owners in the south but also to common ordinary people, to wagers, to working-class laborers in places like new york.

new york definitely a hotbed for democratic activity. the south and the west. in new york, you have martin van buren, a democrat. later president of the united states. he later leaves the democratic party and joins the antislavery free soil party. we will get to that in a future lecture. representing the south for the democrats, we have another legendary figure -- john c calhoun. calhoun, a rabid defender of slavery. but also a rabid opponent of the tariff. he hates the tariff so much, in fact, that calhoun calls the tariff of 1828 the tariff of abominations. he says it discriminates against the south.

sure enough, that same year, calhoun offers in secret -- and he does it in secret because he is vice president of the united states -- calhoun authors in secret nsa advocating -- an nullification the idea that the states can make nolan void any law any federal law they view as unconstitutional. from the west, we have andrew jackson. there he is. no man. probably the most colorful president in united states history. i say probably i think we can state almost objectively the most colorful president in u.s. history. a giant of a figure. he stood at 6'1".

that is very tall for that day and age. six foot one skinny. bushy eyebrows. hair brushed high above a very large forehead, with piercing blue eyes. jackson was a hot tempered man. he was a bit stubborn. oftentimes a bit bullheaded. he had strong convictions. he knew when he was opposed to something, he stood up to that system. he has a few nicknames as well. he went by the name "old hickor y. " tough as old hickory wood. his second nickname -- you won't believe this #--sharp knife. who has a nickname like sharp knife? sharp knife?

so what's andrew jackson's story? jackson was born in 1767 in north carolina. his parents died at a very early age. he was an orphan. no parental restraints. as a young boy, he got into brawls and fights. he was not all that interested in learning or reading. jackson was nine years old at the time of the american revolution. we'll see young andy right there in the middle nine years old at age 13, he joined a militia as a messenger. at one point, he ran into a british officer. the british officer told him to clean his boots. young jackson said he would not clean the boots. the officer took his sword and slashed young andy, leaving a permanent scar on his left hand and the left side of his head. jackson went on to help found

the state of tennessee. got married in 1806. someone insulted his wife, he challenge the man to a dual and shot him -- duel and shot him. the only president in history who is ever killed a man. that's andrew jackson sharp. knife andrew jackson joins the military. he fights the creek indians in 1814. fights the seminole indians in 1817. that in 1815 he earns his fame through the battle of new orleans. this spectacular victory against the british, even though you may remember the war was already over. that does not seem to matter. this elevates andrew jackson to celebrity status. that is indeed what jackson is -- a celebrity. he has some political experience, served about two years in the senate.

that is all. he is also very wealthy. there is a plantation, the hermitage. the hermitage starts out in 1804, jackson has nine slaves. by the 1830's, he has well over 100 slaves, and slaves are very expensive. most common people cannot afford any at all. he has over 100, he is a very very wealthy man very well-to-do. jackson enters the senate in 1823. in 1824, he runs for the presidency, a four-way race between jackson, adams, william crawford and henry clay. jackson wins the popular vote 42%, jackson also wins the most electoral votes. but jackson does not win a majority of electoral votes. the contest goes to the house of representatives.

henry clay, speaker of the house. henry clay cannot stand and you jackson, his rival in the west. henry clay strikes a deal with john quincy adams and says tell you what, i will get the votes you need in the house of representatives if you make me secretary of state. the deal is made, adams wins in the house of representatives, becomes president. clay is elevated to secretary of state. andrew jackson is furious? he says corrupt bargain, rigged election. he says he will get his revenge. 1828, 2 men contest. jackson wins in a landslide. look at that electoral map. quite an impressive victory. landslide victory.

how does he do it? the answer is simple -- democracy. jackson benefits from universal male suffrage. we call this period jacksonian democracy -- property qualifications for all free men in the united states are eliminated. no property is required to vote. double the number of voters in 1828 then he saw in 1824. jackson uses this to his advantage and wages a political campaign that utilizes a form of politics we call populism. populism is a political term that has come up quite a bit in the last few years. what is populism? populism is not an ideology per se. you can find populism on the

left, you can find populism on the right. populism is a style of politics. a style of politics that speaks to the interests, to the hopes, to the fears of common, ordinary people. populists tend to pit the people versus the elites. the people versus the establishment. populists tend to warn of nefarious forces in positions of power. weather those positions of power are in government or the corporate world to nefarious forces. the carrot on top cherry on top populous often have charismatic personality. often with populism, you will

see populists emerge who uses the sheer force of personality to rally people around them, and to use that charisma to attack what he claims to attack corrupt entrenched interests. that is what populism is. andrew jackson is a populist. inaugurated into the presidency in 1829. in celebration of his presidency, he throws a party. opens up the white house lawn to the public. hundreds of people from around the country pour in to the white house lawn. everyday americans shopkeepers common every day americans sleeping on hotel room floors and in all ways. hallways. they pack in on the white house lawn. a spiked punch bowl, and whiskey is being passed around. it's one heck of the party and jackson is stoked. the people are ready for jackson.

and as you can imagine these guys don't like it one little bit. they look at what is going on and it disgusts them. can you think what daniel webster thought of something like this? jackson is ready. was the country ready for jackson? this is the real question. what is this man going to do? there is no telling. he is a loose cannon. what is going to happen? henry clay says all right, we lost that election, that is fine. i'm going to push through my american system. he begins with internal improvements. clay says, we need a road. we have all these farmers from my home state of kentucky, we need a road that stretches from lexington, kentucky, to maze

ville, kentucky, right there along the ohio river. and i want to use federal dollars to build that road. the bill goes on. it arrives on jackson's desk after it flies through congress. jackson responds and vetoes the bill. one of the first famous vetoes in presidential history. clay was very upset. this was just the beginning. clay says he vetoed my internal improvements bill, let's try another plank of the american system. let's try a new tariff. the tariff of 1832. this is a strange tariff. it seems to contradict clay's program. the tariff of 1832 lowers the

tariff from 45% to 35%. why does clay do this? you will recall that tariff of abominations in 1828. south carolina and other states in the south are very angry about this. clay fears that maybe 45% is pushing it too much. they say let's lower it a little bit. high enough to soften some of the opposition. the bill arrives on andrew jackson's desk. president jackson signs the bill. all sounds good. south carolina is not so pleased with this bill. south carolina nullifies the tariff of 1832. why would they do this? it was a tariff. south carolina says not enough.

this tariff is unconstitutional. we have a right to declare this tariff null and void. if you do not accept our notification of this tariff, we will secede from the united states. unbelievable. what is andrew jackson going to do? calhoun is a democrat. jackson gets word of this, and jackson could not be more furious with john c calhoun. for jackson, this is an affront to his authority as president. jackson signed the bill. jackson says "to say that any state may at pleasure secede from the union is to say that the united states is not a nation. " jackson asks congress to pass

a force bill. this bill would permit the president to send 50,000 u.s. troops into south carolina. jackson prepares the u.s. navy. the u.s. navy now off the coast of south carolina. he is ready to invade the state of south carolina. what is going to happen? the nullification crisis. we are on the brink of civil war over a tariff. who would've thought? henry clay at the last moment, desperate, passes a compromised tariff. in the midst of this crisis, a compromised tariff that lowers the tariff gradually over a 10 year period. by the end of ten years, and stages that tariff will only be 25%. between this compromised tariff and between jackson's forced bill, south carolina backs off and accepts the tariff.

calhoun does not like jackson. probably does not like jackson anymore than henry clay does. south carolina backs off. jackson called their bluff. just to prove a point, the south carolina legislature nullified the force bill. jackson said whatever. go ahead and do that. henry clay. he looks at jackson and says, i never thought i would say this, but thank you. jackson goes ok -- "oh clay, i'm not done. ' what you mean you're not done? jackson says there is one other

thing -- the bank. clay says it's funny jackson mentions that, because i was thinking that would we would just recharter this bank early. why not? we don't need to wait to the last moment. it's 1832, let's get going, let's re-charter this bank. you are on board with that, right mr. president? jackson says, well not only am i not on board mr. clay, but i am ready to wage war against this bank of the united states. and here we have it, the bank war. one of the most dramatic events in united states history. the charter of that second bank will expire very shortly.

whigs in congress wished to recharter it early. jackson, to their surprise -- they did not expect this. jackson declares his opposition to the bank. where does this come from? it seems to come out of nowhere. jackson did not run his campaign in 1828 against the bank. he made no mention of the campaign desk the bank during the campaign. all of a sudden he unleashes a torrent of insults. first of all, jackson says the bank is unconstitutional. the bank, jackson says, is a monopoly. an unconstitutional monopoly. not only is that a monopoly, it is a monster. jackson warns that if this bank is rechartered, we will see in this nation the creation of a

new moneyed aristocracy, a financial elite that will overthrow this young republic. we must do everything we can to stop this nefarious thing, this den of vipers. pretty strong language. he called the hydra of corruption. that mythic multiheaded beast. jackson says this is the hydra of corruption. what evidence does he have? is this bank truly corrupt as he says? as evidence, he points out 59 members of congress -- and he is correct in this -- 59 members of congress own stock in the bank of the united states. they have a financial interest in pushing this through. daniel webster, while serving

in the senate is also a director of this private bank. a hydra of corruption from jackson's point of view. and i, andrew jackson, am going to take that bank down. henry clay cannot believe it. you are mad, henry clay says. can't believe you're doing this. how many times you going to run for president clay? two times, three times, five times? how many times he going to lose before you realize you can't win? you are bluffing, clay says. " i'm going to take this bank down if it is the last thing i do, believe me." clay does not

believe jackson. congress is in an uproar. should we side with clay? should we side with jackson? should the bank be rechartered? the number one issue on everyone's mind. and jackson had enemies. not just clay. the president of the bank himself, nicholas biddle. a man who really could not be more opposite from andrew jackson. they shared some things in common. they were determined, stubborn, bullheaded. biddle was extremely well-educated. jackson did not have a college education. the only president in our history except in george washington who did not have a college education. biddle, at age 10, admitted into the university of pennsylvania.

age 10. five years later, biddle transfers to princeton university. at age 15. he is a genius. a financial wizard. he knows what he is talking about. that is also biddle's downfall. he is elitist. he is arrogant. he is a bit pretentious. because of that pretentiousness, he looks at someone like jackson and wonders if this is really going on. jackson does not know anything he is talking about. he sees jackson as an unsophisticated gimlet. he has no idea what he is talking about. the country in an age of jacksonian democracy, who are they going to side with?

nicholas biddle earns the nickname czar nicholas. here's a cartoon, a pro-jackson cartoon. it is a bit dated, zero have to forgive me. not only do we have nicholas biddle, we also have an election coming up. jackson versus clay. the presidential election of 1832. what an election. the drama. look at this. unbelievable. the future of the country. financially speaking, hanging in the balance. you cannot find two greater opponents.

clay, in conjunction with daniel webster, clay pushes through congress that summer, just a few months before election day, a bill to recharter the bank of the united states. why does clay do this? clay says, i think jackson is bluffing. there is no way in an election year he would do something so risky and so bold as to reject a bill like this. the bank bill passes the house. the bank bill passes the senate. the bank bill arrives at the president's desk. veto. jackson stuns the world unleashing -- because the -- vetoes the bill. now we have an election. just a few months away from the election. this question of the bank is on

everybody's mind. it is the number one issue. everybody is talking about it in here is another cartoon. remember the hydra? that hydra of corruption. jackson going up against that financial beast. it is a hard campaign for jackson. nicholas biddle flexes his muscle. nicholas biddle, on behalf of the bank, gives henry clay a $50,000 campaign donation. quite a lot of money for those days. not only that, but the bank for years already has been funding and loaning money to newspapers all across the country. that press, all of a sudden, is piling on to. things look really bad. what is jackson going to do? is he going to win? things don't look so good. jackson is confident.

in the midst of this trial, jackson says "the bank is trying to kill me, but i will kill it. jackson says i will kill it what happens? the election occurs. election day comes about. victory for jackson. jackson wins the election in a landslide. clay wins five states. jackson takes the bulk of the states. you will notice south carolina refuses to vote for jackson in the middle of that nullification crisis. jackson wins the election. victory for the jacksonians. this cartoon in 1833. pretty interesting cartoon i just took a little back story i was in graduate school i took a

digital history course. we had an assignments. we had to take an old photograph or an old black-and-white cartoon and we had to use photoshop to color it in. i had never used photoshop before. i thought this cartoon was interesting. i took this cartoon and did that. not bad for a beginner, right? look at the imagery in the cartoon. pretty incredible. there, standing behind jackson, the common man, enthusiastically patting him on the back. the bankers, the financiers running away in fear. oh look at that. the newspapers, the press, all spread out on the ground. they've been defeated. look at the demon face. look at the columns, the falling columns.

what is that all about? if you are familiar with the gospels, you will know there is this one time that jesus became violent. when was that? when jesus pulled up his whip and drove out the money changers from the temple. jesus saying get out of my temple to those moneychangers. jackson, like christ, has driven the moneychangers out of the temple. this is a phenomenal victory for jacksonian democracy. but it's not over this is not over. it it's 1833 will noticed the charter does not run out until 1836. jackson says he has to put up with this bank for another three years? he couldn't do that. there is no telling what these guys would try to pull. i've got to kill this bank no. and sure enough, jackson, after he wins the election, removes all federal deposits, all

treasury deposits, from the bank, starving the bank to death, removing those federal deposits early and then transferring them to state banks. pro-jackson state banks. the bag must shut down. these pro-jackson state banks by jackson's opponents are called pet banks. these are pets for andrew jackson. the whigs are understandably furious with jackson. this is a wig cartoon. look at that. king andrew the first traveling on the constitution. overstepping his constitutional authority, born to command.

many people are opposed to jackson. some democrats are opposed to jackson. they thought he and taken some dictator like steps. he was much to king like they say. he is driving the bankers out. order of the removal of public money deposited from the u.s. bank. . sure >> that is in reference to the removal of federal deposits. years later when he was on his deathbed, jackson was asked what was his most proud, which meant? accomplishment? jackson had four words -- i killed the bank. his proudest accomplishment. sure enough, from 1836 to 1913, 77 years, no central bank. in 1913, the congress chartered

a new central bank, a central bank called the federal reserve. this federal reserve, well we could teach a whole class on the federal reserve. in short, one of the country's wealthiest financiers, jp morgan, just prior to his death, designed the federal reserve. the federal reserve pushed through congress. the federal reserve prince our money. a mostly private bank. it prints the money. nowadays what it does is it digitizes money creation more often than printing. it loans out the money, usually at 1% or 2% interest to leading banks, to goldman sachs, to jp morgan, to bank of america. then they land it out out i

higher rate of interest, making profit from the dishes -- the difference, from people like you. more often than not, they will lend it to hedge funds, to wall street speculators to equities and futures and derivatives. it is a very important institution. a cornerstone of the current day banking system. a cornerstone of the currency. if you look at a one dollar bill, it doesn't say u.s. treasury note on the top. it says federal reserve note. same if you look at a five dollar bill, or a $10 bill, or a $20 bill. look at that. there he is. wow, there he is. andrew jackson himself. that is strange. what is he doing on that bill?

call me crazy, but that almost looks intentional. am i right? almost like a "gotcha! " we win we win. kind of like if you're a big game hunter and you kill big game, you take the head and mounted on the wall. collected trophy. maybe i am wrong. maybe they just forgot that jackson was totally opposed to everything that stood for. one way or another, a pretty interesting story. what happened in the short term after jackson's presidency the democrats win in 1836. artan van buren defeats daniel webster. -- martin van buren defeats daniel webster. martin van buren runs into some troubles -- a new financial panic sweeps the country. the panic of 1837.

all those pet banks, the state banks that received those federal deposits, used those deposits, over speculation and western land, there was a land bubble. the bubble popped in 1837. the democrats become extremely unpopular across the country. now it is the whigs'turn. the whigs finally have their chance. in 1840, the whigs run against martin van buren. and you would think maybe they're gonna run henry clay again but no. the whigs say they will play a test run a war hero. everybody loves war heroes right? the hero of the battle of typical new -- tippecanoe in 1811, william henry harrison. we're also going to put on harrison's ticket a democrat. a democrat who was very critical of jackson, john tyler, who is a virginia planter. he was a jeffersonian, but thought jackson was to king

like -- too king like. they were right. we're gonna throw a democrat in there to make it a safe moderate ticket. look at that landslide for the whigs. they overwhelmingly win the election. the first time, they control the house, the senate, the presidency. henry clay rubbing his hands. he is ready to go. william henry harrison delivers his inauguration speech. a storm comes through washington, d.c. , pouring down rain. during the speech, in that rain, william henry harrison, 68 years old, comes down with pneumonia and dies. now john tyler is president. totally not what we planned. that is ok, we're going to -- tyler is not jackson, at least.

jackson is not in office. we are going to push through a new bill. clay pushes through a new bill for a bank. this time he calls it something different. cause the bank in the united states has been a bit stained. he calls it the fiscal bank. it flies through the house, it flies through the senate. gets on john tyler's desk. veto. clay can't believe it. all right, we're going to try again. clay pushes through another bill. this time, we won't even call it a bank. that is how much the country hates banks. they're going to call it "the fiscal corporation. " goes to the house, the senate, reaches tyler's desk. veto. clay can't believe this is happening. we are to have to wait four more years. it is unbelievable we have to put up with this.

they wait four years. finally, clay says he is doing it this time. he can't trust anybody but himself. 1844, he runs for president against james k. polk and loses the election. poor, poor henry clay. that is the bank war episode. it is a fun episode. however you feel about the bank war. it is an interesting event. there was a darker side to jackson. a darker side to his presidency, a darker side to populism. andrew jackson, during his administration, had one of the harshest one of the cruelest events in u.s. history.

that of course is the trail of tears, the removal of roughly 100,000 native americans from the old south west. cohen is the big fad of the day. cotton plantations are spreading all across the south. standing in the way of those cotton plantations are 125,000 native americans. the creek, the cherokee, the seminole, other groups. in 1830, both the whigs and the democrats pushed through congress with jackson's signature the indian removal act, giving the president permission to negotiate with indian tribes to remove them from the old southwest into a new territory -- indian territory, what is today oklahoma. jackson defends this by saying he wants to preserve indian culture. indian culture is at risk.

we are going to move them, forcibly, into oklahoma, where they will forever be able to live in peace. of course a few years later settlers arrived in oklahoma and want that land as well. but jackson does run into an opponent. that opponent is the supreme court. in 1831, the cherokee sue the state of georgia. it goes all the way to the supreme court. chief justice john marshall rules in favor of -- the cherokee. he says removing their land is unconstitutional. so it looks like the plan is done. andrew jackson, in typical manner, very jack sonia manner, responds to chief justice

marshall and says "justice marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it. " he completely ignores the decision and the indian removal goes through. the most infamous episode in this removal was the trail of tears in 1838, 1839. 15,000 cherokee and next lecture we will look more at the cherokee civilization. they made a strong effort to try to comply. it was not enough. 15,000 of them were moved from georgia to oklahoma on a journey, on foot, that was 116 days. terrible conditions. roughly one in four cherokee die of disease or malnutrition. that is 4000 cherokee. just to give you an idea. there is the route of the indian removal.

this will give you an idea of how bad things were. there was a confederate soldier after the civil war and he had this to say -- he said i fought the war between the states and i have seen many men shot, but the cherokee removal was the cruelest work i ever knew. in conclusion, what can we say about jackson? there are a lot of lessons here. democracy can do a lot of good. democracy can do a lot of good. populism can do a lot of good. strong personalities can do a lot of good. but all three of those things can also do a lot of bad as well.

populism or a jacksonian style democracy is risky. it is a most like rolling the dice. you do not know how it is going to turn out. things could happen that are good, but you don't know. most of the time, people don't go for populists. during times of uncertainty, during times in which there is a sense that there is a corrupt elite system, that often will give an avenue to populists, good or bad, demagogue or well-meaning. that avenue can often be exploited. you have to be careful. you have to be very careful in moments like that. jackson, what do we make of him? i am not sure. interesting guy. definitely an interesting guy.

next class, we have a new republic. the republic of texas. the republic of texas is going to apply for statehood in the united states. that is going to call its own controversy. that does it. enjoy your weekend. i will see you on monday.

, he describes how members of congress in the early 1800s bonded across party lines through tobacco use, social clubs and living together in boarding houses. leading up to the civil war, these friendships and alliances disintegrated. showing the divisions in politics at the time.